Men shoot child dead at stop light, then video scene to ‘brag’, AZ officials say

Three men are going to prison after being accused of a drive-by shooting that left a 5-year-old dead, Arizona officials said.

In March 2023, a group of gang members, later identified as Alfred Gary, 18, Freddy Patterson, 18, and Charles Adams, 20, were driving in Tempe when they came to a red light alongside a car filled with seven people, according to a June 2 news release by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

The men fired 20 rounds into the car, killing a 5-year-old boy and wounding a 17-year-old boy along with an 8-year-old girl, prosecutors said.

After the shooting, the men went to grab dinner before returning to video the crime scene so they could brag about the shooting to other gang members, officials said.

One of the passengers in the targeted car was part of a gang that Patterson and Adams had an issue with, officials said.

The three men pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, drive-by shooting, conspiracy to commit drive-by shooting and aggravated assault, officials said.

Gary was sentenced to 16 years in prison, and Patterson and Adams were each sentenced to 30 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Patterson and Adams were given an additional five years for the role they had in a separate drive-by shooting just days earlier involving a mother, her 3-year-old son and her 14-year-old daughter, officials said.

No one was hurt during that shooting, officials said.

Tempe is about a 10-mile drive southeast from Phoenix.

This story was originally published June 2, 2025 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Men shoot child dead at stop light, then video scene to ‘brag’, AZ officials say."